RE: Readability statistics: is anyone expected to meet a particular Flesch score?

["James Barrow" <vrfour -at- verizon -dot- net>]

>Geoffrey Marnell asked:
>
>A few years ago, on some forum or other, I read that some employers of
>technical writers expected their writers to always meet or better a
>particular Flesch readability score. (This score is based on the number of
>syllables per 100 words and the average number of words per sentence.
>Microsoft Word automatically computes this score, and displays it if you
>have set your Spelling & Grammar options accordingly.)  
>
>Is anyone currently subject to such a demand (or has been in the recent
>past)? If so, what justification was given for it?

During a recent project, I worked for a consulting company who was tasked
with creating a large client-server app for the state.  We (tech writers)
were told that the documentation could not be higher than a sixth grade
reading level.  This presented a challenge since one really good sentence at
a twelfth grade level could translate to four good sentences at a sixth
grade level, thus increasing the volume of documentation, which was
specified in the SOW.

The justification for the sixth grade level Flesch score was this.  As we
were developing the application and documentation, we were working the
people who would go back to train the users.  We were training the trainers.
Since there was no support for the documentation once the app went live, we
had to make sure that what we wrote was as easy to understand as possible.
That is, state employees could call the consulting company with questions
(incidents) about the software, but not questions to clarify something in
the documentation.

- Jim

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